Mattel, the company that produces Barbies, has evolved. Unlike the Barbies from the 1970s, the current fashion dolls have expanded in range of colors and in body type, including people with disabilities. For adult collectors such as myself and children who enjoy Barbies, these representations are one of the most pivotal changes made by a toy manufacturer. But none of these changes positively impact the lives of workers around the world.
Barbie’s world includes these variations. It reflects the ways in which Mattel followed the trends from when Barbie was first produced in 1959 as a fashion icon.
The main protagonist Barbie in the movie is made in the image of the first version produced in the US. She is blond, blue-eyed and has a body based on the sexualized idea from racist, sexist capitalism. The other Barbies represent CEOs, the president of Barbie’s world, mermaids, and other occupations or characters.
Barbie leaves the “Barbie” world to enter the world of flesh and blood people only to discover that women are objectified based on their (western ideal of) beauty and youth. The men in the real world are empowered by patriarchal values, whether a construction worker or owner of a company. Mattel’s CEO and Board of Trustees are all male. They spend their time trying to capture Barbie to return her to the box where she is displayed for sale and consumption. She is the proverbial beauty linked to the success of men.
Ken in Barbie’s world only exists in his relation to Barbie. He does not add value to the dolls of Barbie’s world.
First produced in 1961, Ken is like the other merchandise sold by Mattel to accessorize Barbie. Ken’s role is that of a placeholder for the male gaze. He has very little to contribute to Barbie’s world. But when Ken secretly follows Barbie into the real world, he takes in patriarchy, loves it, and returns to Barbie’s world to teach the other Kens how to take over.
The difference is the role that Barbie and Ken occupy in their respective roles in each of the worlds. In the real world where patriarchy and capitalism rule, Barbie becomes aware that the idealized Barbie who’s been an astronaut, a president, construction worker etc. does not reflect the lived experiences of working women and girls. Barbie then returns to her world to find it usurped by patriarchy where all the iterations of Barbie cater to the Kens and forget their positions and identities.
Capitalism and Patriarchy
The film is insufficient in connecting patriarchy and capitalism. In the real world, the role that women play is based on the male gaze in capitalism. Capitalism and patriarchy encourage competition where men are encouraged to acquire the most “beautiful” woman to heighten their personal value amongst other men within systems that oppress women and men workers of all nations.
The merchandises of Barbie items from cars, houses, and clothing are produced in China, Indonesia, Mexico, and Thailand by wage-starved workers.
The film does not address why the Barbies choose to relinquish their identities to serve the Kens. That negates the real economic struggle for survival that women workers face. This scene implies that the Barbies have returned to traditional femininity where men must be served and appeased.
The film cannot and does not parallel this reality as Ken does not contribute to the status or identity of any Barbies. Women in the real world are used to upgrade the status of the men with whom they partner based on the commodity of “beauty” which Barbie represents. The short phase where the Kens rule Barbie’s world is a response to their invisibility.
There is no lens to question these systemic structures that could unify the Kens and Barbies. Their lack of sexual organs is another reason this film cannot address the byproducts of patriarchy and misogyny – rape and sexual coercion. The dispossessed Barbies are restored to the power structure of their world, while the Kens are encouraged to find themselves.
Barbie offers no solution to women or men workers of the world facing the devastating effects from capitalist exploitation and its resulting misogyny, and patriarchy. Only a communist world can address these poisons that ruin the lives of workers around the world.
Films that are made within a capitalist system for profit are not going to free women despite the undertones of “girl power” woven in the storyline. Its reverse sexism where Ken is a minor character is not a symbol of power. Instead, it dehumanizes half of humanity.
Capitalism already promotes misogyny, but the response should not be to promote misandry (contempt for men) as a solution. The workers cannot reform or eliminate the toxicity of capitalism’s bi-products – racism, misogyny, nationalism, sexism, or xenophobia to name a few.
Only workers can build a system based on equity where women and men build a communist world in unison that crosses borders and languages. Children will learn the tools they need to build a truly collective society. Everyone will work together, and we will greet each other in our various tongues united to lift our heads and say, “Good Morning Revolution.”
Read Our Pamphlet, The Communist Fight Against Sexism here.
Read More Articles About Sexism here.